Cambodia's Angkor Wat Named World’s Top Landmark

The travel website TripAdvisor has named Cambodia’s ancient Angkor Wat as the top landmark in the world.

The website uses travelers’ reviews to choose winners each year. Angkor Wat received 33,000 five-star reviews in the last 12 months.

It also topped TripAdvisor’s list of landmarks in 2015.

Angkor Wat is the world’s largest religious monument. It includes temples, reservoirs and canals. The website World Archaeology describes Angkor Wat as “the most extensive urban complex in the pre-industrial world.”

Built between 802 and 1431, the city of Angkor was the center of the Khmer rule in what is now Cambodia. Power struggles, foreign invasion and climate change led to the Khmer rule’s downfall.

Last year, 2.2 million tourists visited Angkor Wat.

TripAdvisor reviews call it “majestic” and “like absolutely nothing else I’ve ever seen.”

Here are a few other landmarks that made TripAdvisor’s top 25 list:

Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Center

Just after Angkor Wat on the list is the United Arab Emirates’ Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Center.

The Center in Abu Dhabi is considered one of the UAE’s most important - and beautiful - places of worship. With minarets, reflecting pools and gold details, the mosque is extraordinary both inside and outside.

The mosque is named for the first president of the UAE, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan. It was built between 1996 and 2007.

Church of the Savior of Spilled Blood

The one Russian landmark to make the list is St. Petersburg’s Church of the Savior of Spilled Blood. It came in at number 6.

The Russian-style church is colorful and detailed. One TripAdvisor user wrote, “the whole church is a piece of art….with mosaics covering every inch.”

The church was built on the place where revolutionaries killed Emperor Alexander II in 1881. That is where the church’s name comes from.

Construction on the church began two years after Alexander’s murder. It was completed in 1907. The church fell into disrepair during the Russian Revolution in 1917, and later during World War II. Repair efforts began in the 1970s. It opened to the public 27 years later.

Great Wall of China at Mutianyu

Coming in at number 7 on TripAdvisor’s list is China’s Great Wall at Mutianyu.

The Great Wall once stretched for more than 13,000 kilometers. About 8,000 kilometers still stand today.

Mutianyu is among the best-kept parts of the wall. It was first built in the middle 500s. It is the Great Wall’s longest restored part open to visitors.

Mutianyu is about 60 kilometers from Beijing. It has 23 watchtowers, and is surrounded by forests and little waterways. While many tourists visit this historic place each day, it still receives fewer visitors than some other parts close to Beijing, like the famous Badaling area.

Golden Gate Bridge

The highest-rated U.S. landmark on TripAdvisor’s list is the Golden Gate Bridge. It came in at number 11.

The famous structure stretches 2,788 meters. It opened to traffic on May 27, 1937. It is one of the world’s most impressive engineering successes. More than 110,000 cars travel across the Golden Gate Bridge everyday.

It is named after the waterway it crosses; the Golden Gate Strait flows between the Pacific Ocean and the San Francisco Bay. The bridge links the city of San Francisco with Marin County.

El Ateneo Grand Splendid

For our final landmark today, we head to South America. Coming in at number 20 is Argentina’s book-filled El Ateneo Grand Splendid.

When it first opened in Buenos Aires in 1919, the Grand Splendid was a performing arts theater. Some of Argentina’s most famous tango dancers performed there. Later, it became a movie theater.

Reminders of its past still remain, including red stage curtains, painted ceilings and theater boxes. But instead of rows of chairs where the audience one sat, there are now rows of bookshelves. The theater boxes are now small reading rooms. And the stage has been turned into a cafe.

Grand Splendid became a bookstore in 2000. At the time, city officials were considering tearing down the historic building. Today, it is one of the best-known bookstores in the world.

I’m Ashley Thompson.

And I'm Caty Weaver.

Have you been to any of TripAdvisor's top 25 world landmarks? If so, tell us about your experience. Write to us in the comments section.

(See the full list below)